Thursday, 29 August 2013

(or... Why have the figures been drastically changed ?)

There've been some changes made. Back in 2009, when all the intensive work was being done, consultants Mott MacDonald came up with figures for the likely traffic impacts of the South Bristol Link.

Among all the stats, it was revealed that the road would draw enough traffic onto the new alignment to push up the numbers at both ends. At Brunel Way, as it passes Bower Ashton, another 6,000 vehicles a day would funnel in with the 35,000 that pack it now; along Hengrove Way/Airport Road, there'd be an extra 5,000 on top of the 16,500 that we see today. Frightening, but not really surprising.

Meanwhile, advised Mott MacDonald's experts, the Bus Rapid Transit (sorry, I must learn to call it 'Metrobus') would carry 3,000 people a day along the leg of its journey between Hartcliffe and the A38.

But that was in the olden days. Planning Committees reading the latest reports will find the goal posts have been adjusted and traffic projections rounded right down – and not directly comparable because daily figures aren't given, only the hourly peak and the 'interpeak average'. So on Brunel Way, the new road is now claimed to have no significant effect on traffic levels approaching the Cumberland Basin in the morning rush. Back at Hengrove, the planning committee will be told, morning peak traffic will actually drop (!) once the same road becomes a new ring route through South Bristol.

Just as the traffic numbers are now being played down, it turns out that the SBL Metrobus (you know, the one that's going to be good enough to get people out of their cars) will also carry far less passengers – certainly a tiny number compared with the forecasts on which the scheme was developed. This link (figs 7-12) shows that for most of the running hours, and much of the route, throughout the 15 year study, hourly passenger numbers won't even reach double figures, let alone the 3,000 a day plus on which the whole SBL project was sold.

Conspiracy or cock-up? It needed high passenger figures to justify the scheme in the first place. With that out of the way, and funding secured, low passenger figures can justify dropping the expensive, uneconomic bus element of BRT altogether, leaving just the highway, a new ring road, and a stimulus for developing the Green Belt. Job done.

Of course, I made that last bit up. It couldn't possibly be true. After all, we're going to be European Green Capital.

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

For years, badgers have been digging and enlarging their sett on the 'Whitchurch Way' cycle path with a multitude of entrances either side of the tarmac. Now the path has collapsed into one of the interlinking tunnels.The city council, quite properly, won't fix the path till they get advice about protecting the badgers. Down the road in Somerset, though, they're preparing to shoot the creatures, healthy or not, in a (probably ineffective) attempt to reduce the incidence of bovine TB in cattle. There's a good dispassionate summary of the issue in this Science Media Centre briefingApart from cattle and badgers, the disease can also be carried and transmitted by deer, horses, cats and dogs. Bikes too, for all I know. All of them frequent this stretch of the path, which has direct links into dairy and beef farms.

So doesn't the logic of the cull suggest that dogs, cats, horses and cyclists should be shot too?

Saturday, 24 August 2013

The
mass of documents
published as part of the planning application to build the South
Bristol Link must baffle most of us who want to submit an informed
comment. And every day it's being added to with more letters of
support or objection. I've just put my own objection in; they're still
being accepted.

To ease the burden, the
links below are for the key 'Transport Assessment', which is part of
the Environment Assessment and unhelpfully scattered in bits randomly around the
official documents list.

Especially illuminating are the predicted peak hour traffic flows – demonstrating, for instance, that once the road-builders have gone, residents of quiet, leafy King Georges Road will get over a thousand vehicles passing through in the morning rush. Not to mention those three (yes, THREE) passengers shared between half a dozen spanking new Metrobuses.

Still, every cloud..... Over at Barrow Gurney, they already get a thousand vehicles through in the morning peak, so they're naturally very keen to see the new road built. As one resident says,

"Villages like Barrow Gurney have been severely damaged with both the buildings and the community smashed by increasing traffic levels. In places the carriageway is only 14 feet wide with stone walls and no pavement but cars expect to be able to pass each other irrespective of any villagers trying to access village amenities such as the pub, village hall, playground and shop as well as visit friends. It is an attractive village with most of the houses in the centre listed but this narrow winding road carries around 15,000 cars a day, every day with no respite at weekends and bank holidays. The children and old people in the village need to be able to walk in safety but cars make no concession for pedestrians. The last village appraisal revealed that 15% of residents had been struck by cars in the village centre so it is not surprising that 85% of villagers felt unsafe walking in the village. Such a situation is unacceptable.”

The SBL predictions suggest that the traffic along Barrow Lane will be halved when the new link opens. Only a partial solution, then - maybe only 7.5% of residents will be struck by cars. Still, there's at least one of the offending drivers who's conscience stricken - and looks forward to a clearer run. He writes:

“I
write as a North Somerset resident, as a chartered civil engineer and
transport planner,
and as Chairman of Bristol Chamber of Commerce's Transport Group,
which I represent on
the Mayor of Bristol's Transport Advisers Panel.

I
moved to Bristol in 1984. At the time, the construction of the road
that is now known as the South Bristol
Link was part of the strategic plan for the area. I believed then,
and continue to believe, that
the construction of the road will be of major benefit, both by
improving access to the communities
in South Bristol and by providing a bypass to remove through traffic
from Barrow Gurney.

I
moved to Wrington in 1987. Since then, for 23 of the intervening
years, I have commuted to Bristol
via the A38, through Barrow Gurney and along the Long Ashton Bypass.
Despite peak period
hold ups in Barrow Gurney, this is the quickest route between home
and work and takes my journey
past fewer homes than any other option, meaning that my commute
causes the least nuisance
to others. That same route is preferred for many journeys between
Bristol Airport and Bristol.
Consequently, with increased air travel, it has become steadily
busier and the traffic on it must
cause significant harm to the quality of life of residents in Barrow
Gurney.

I
wish to express my wholehearted support for the scheme both because
of my self interest, in that it
will improve my journey to work, and because it will provide so many
wider benefits for North Somerset
and south Bristol.”

Now
there's a saint! Wherever would we be without transport planners like this?

Monday, 5 August 2013

I've
never been to Olveston. Streetview tells me it's nice but unremarkable. Without a car, it's a tricky place to get to
and from. Occasionally a bus passes through the village during the
working day, headed for Cribbs Causeway or Yate, but it's not the
sort of service you'd rely on for anything beyond a carefully
planned trip to the shops; anything more needs a help from a
journey-planner or a travel agent. Naturally, most of Olveston's
residents will have to depend on a car or three to lead anything like
a normal, 21st century life. It's quite nicely placed
for that... not far from Almondsbury, Severn Bridge, and the M48/M4
junction.

The
village expanded hugely in the sixties, so now something over 2,000
people live there. And they face a common foe in the
shape of REG windpower.

A couple of Cornish wind turbines ruining the view

REG
windpower plan to bring the village to its knees by erecting two wind
turbines over the other side of the motorways, at the hamlet of
Ingst.

The
curate takes the view that village children won't be able to
concentrate at school, and would be better off with a nuclear reactor
for a neighbour.

The
owners of a local 'country park' business fear their car-borne
customers will be frightened off from their £7 a pop
'uncommercialised' park if a couple of turbines are visible, causing
redundancies all round.

Helpfully,
a UKIP councillor explains the
background.... it's all thanks to European regulation plus the Tory
ruling classes, who are “using
turbines to generate themselves and their friends huge amounts of
money at the expense of the tax payer and the poor people and animals
that have to suffer these monstrosities
“.

Of
course there are also some in that neighbourhood brave (or foolhardy)
enough to declare themselves in favour of the turbines, by adding
their comments to the planning application. Their addresses are in
the application papers. We know where they live.

Meanwhile,
the applicants are shamelessly promising that they'll put substantial cash into
the local community if the scheme goes ahead. Not only that, but
the turbines, once up and running, will be offered to the Bristol Energy Co-operative, if
they can raise the finance through a community share offer.
Community ownership, in fact. Or creeping socialism.

There's
no date yet for the South Glos. planning meeting, and they do still
seem to be accepting comments
from the public. Mindful that the tip of the turbine blades may be visible from this side of the city, Stockwood Pete has just chipped in
with his own two-penn'orth.

About this Blog

This one's from the little known Bristolian outpost of Stockwood, first settled by city expats back in the fifties. Leafy, open, and close to the countryside.... until they grub up the Green Belt and open spaces to build an 'urban extension'.

Written by an adoptive Stockwoodsman, arrived from the wild north-east back in 2004, this blog sets out to look at Stockwood and Bristol issues, mostly from a green perspective